CTA wants supply chain to press for Labour Code exemptions
TORONTO, Ont. – The Canadian Trucking Alliance is calling on the supply chain to join the trucking industry in pressing for exemptions to three new Labour Code provisions set to take effect Sept. 1, 2019.
“The provisions, as they currently stand, would disrupt the entire Canadian goods movement and logistics economy,” the alliance said in a statement.
It said it had met with officials on Aug. 1 and requested exemptions to the following new provisions:
- The requirement to provide employees (in writing) a copy of their full schedule at least 96 hours in advance of the start of the work week;
- The requirement to provide at minimum 24 hours written notice of any shift changes;
- The right to refuse overtime for certain personal responsibilities.
“Under these provisions, it will be difficult for an employer to make any changes to an employee’s ‘schedule’ – including truck drivers – with less than 96 hours’ notice, and impossible to make any changes with less than 24 hours written notice,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski.
“This change will have a significant negative impact on the entire Canadian economy as the modern supply chain continuously relies on the flexibility of the trucking industry to be able to adjust to daily changes in production or their customers’ demands.”
The alliance is also urging the supply chain and their customers to let the federal government know that these exemptions are crucial to the industry.
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Hear, hear!
How can any business do business with these requirements? Not only trucking, but just about any non-government corporation. The government does not have to worry about income or wages because we the people just pay more taxes. Maybe we can just all work for the government.
What a ridiculous set of rules. The trucking industry is not the only occupation affected by unexpected scheduling. What about hospital staff in the event of an emergency? Does this mean that staff cannot be called in without prior notice of a disaster? What about restaurant staff? If someone calls in sick, or doesn’t show up for work, you can’t call another employee to fill in without 24 hours notice? It is getting more and more frustrating to be a business owner in this country.
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This is a federal regulation, so it doesn’t apply to provincially regulated industries. I gave up my inter-provincial rights a few years ago, so this doesn’t apply to me either. I’m glad that I’m provincially regulated.
Don’t forget, when things do change, you’ll need to sit for 24 hours before you can go again. The scheduling requirements affect management and drivers equally. If you’re on route and the destination or time changes, you’ll need to pull over for 24 hours to start a new “shift”. One of those things that might sound good, but is stupid in practice.
This is another movement toward the nanny state. This has been steadily happening for decades, but similarly to a snowball on the downhill it is picking up pace and momentum. With our “progressive governments” believing they can be all thing to all people and know better, we will just continually see more and more of this type of legislation, where people sitting on committees in governments office can spend numerous hours debating then convincing themselves that they have the answer, always with the belief of the best intentions, but with very little or no realization of the impact it has in the real world of trying to make a living.
These changes will simply mean that transport management will need to step up and find ways to adjust to the reality of today’s marketplace/human resources issues. The days of treating drivers as “necessary liabilities” are over. Look around at the shortage of drivers, this has been brought upon the industry because HR/drivers’ working environments were ignored for too long. Time to look for innovation and progress within your scheduling and human resources.